


F Is For Felony

by amelia_petkova



Category: W.I.T.C.H.
Genre: Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-03
Updated: 2010-04-03
Packaged: 2017-10-08 17:04:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/77663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amelia_petkova/pseuds/amelia_petkova
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cedric's attempts to corrupt an underage girl to the side of evil are misunderstood by uninformed observers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	F Is For Felony

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from W.I.T.C.H. Anne is an Original Character.

"I'm so glad to see you here today. I was worried you'd decided to stop coming by."

Anne looked up from browsing through the history section. She recognized that voice as Cedric, the bookstore owner, but she couldn't see who he spoke to. Just as she was returning to a book on Renaissance Italy, the other person answered.

"I'm sorry, I've been busy with classes." It was a young girl's voice, one Anne had heard before. It was that little blond girl she saw hanging out at the bookstore all the time and making eyes at the owner. Anne smiled wryly; the owner could be found good-looking by some people, though she herself had never been attracted to too-skinny men with long ponytails. Anyway, he was too old to notice the child's crush. He acted too old even for herself, although he couldn't be much past her twenty-five years.

Though his words remained innocent, his tone of voice became oily. "There's going to be a poetry reading here tomorrow evening. Would you like to help me organize the display?"

Anne's eyes widened. She peeked out from behind the bookshelves. The little blond girl practically glowed from Cedric's attention. He smiled and patted her shoulder. The child hummed as she sorted through samples of the poet's work, while he retreated to the side. Anne put a smile on her face and stepped over.

"I think I've seen you here before. Now I'm sorry, I'm bad with names, but it's Ellen, right?" she asked.

"Elyon," the girl corrected.

"It's a nice store, isn't it? I've been here only a few times. Do you come here often?"

"All the time," Elyon confided, putting little thought into the implications of what she said. "Cedric lets me help out in the shop. He's such a good friend and I have so much fun looking through the books. Isn't he great?"

"He's something, all right." Anne smiled broader and waved at Cedric, who she saw covertly watching them from the other side of the room. "Have a good afternoon, Elyon." She paid for her book, making innocent chit-chat through the transaction, and sauntered out of the store. After turning the corner, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed 911.

"Hello. I'd like to report a suspicious person. His name is Cedric; he's the owner of a bookstore near the Heatherfield school." She paused and listened to the dispatcher's question. "Well, I think he might be a pedophile."

#

Alone in the main room of the bookstore, Cedric rolled his shoulders. This human form always felt so confining after changing from his true shape. The bell over the door tinkled and he turned, putting on what passed as his "Polite Bookseller" face. "Can I help you gentlemen?"

Two men in suits looked at him. "Are you the owner of this establishment?" one of the men asked. He had a scruffy mustache and was the least-friendly looking of the pair.

"I am. Can I help you find something?"

The second man stepped forward. "And you are familiar with a girl named Elyon Brown?"

"Yes, she stops by with her friends sometimes," Cedric answered without showing a flicker of emotion. That somebody had made a connection between himself and the child was unfortunate, but surely these men had no idea of the reason for his interest in her.

"We're going to have to ask you to come with us," the second man said. "You're wanted for questioning at the station."

"What is this related to?"

"We can talk about that at the station."

"Am I being arrested?" Cedric continued.

"You might be if you don't come with us," the first man said. He stepped closer. "You've been reported as having an inappropriate relationship with Miss Brown. Let's go." He put a hand on Cedric's arm.

Cedric broke away. "You foolish humans!" The police officers stared at him, uncomprehending. He continued, "You really think you are so powerful? You shall regret ever laying hands on me." He stretched out his arms and light crackled under his skin.

#

Irma's father came home from work that day shaking his head.

"Have a rough shift, honey?" her mother asked.

"No me; some of the detectives. They went to pick up this bookstore owner for questioning because some lady reported him acting inappropriate towards a child."

At the words "bookstore owner," Irma's ears perked up from where she was setting the table for dinner.

"He didn't have a gun, did he?" her mother asked, concerned.

"Weirder than that. The guys are claiming that he turned into some sort of giant lizard, and disappeared into an alley!"

Her mother laughed. "You're making that up."

"The guys say they aren't. But of course people can't turn into snakes. It must have been a mass hallucination or something. All of them have to see the department shrink tomorrow."

Irma bit her lips to keep from laughing. Of all the ways she and the others had thought of keeping Elyon safe from Cedric and Phobos, this possibility had never occured to them.

"It was the owner from that bookstore you and your friends visit sometimes," Irma's father said to her. He used what she thought of as his 'Interrogation Voice.' "Did any of you ever notice anything?"

Irma shrugged. "I never thought about it. He was kinda weird, though."

"I don't want you going there anymore, understand?"

"No problem, Dad. We don't want anything to do with that guy," she said with complete honesty.

#

"You have _got_ to be kidding. They thought Cedric was a _pedophile_?" Will dropped her chopsticks.

Irma nodded and snickered. "Apparently some customer thought he was preying on Elyon!"

"He was, just not in that way," Taranee said dryly.

Hay Lin's grandmother joined them at their table in the Silver Dragon. "Strange as it may be, we've had good fortune with this turn of events. Now Phobos and Cedric must work even harder to get a hold of Elyon. They won't be able to use the same method again."

"That's the first good news I've heard in weeks," Will said.

Irma laughed again. "It gets even better. Dad's boss thinks the guys who saw Cedric transform were hallucinating. Now they have to get a psych evaluation!"

"Maybe they'll be convinced they just fell asleep during the day and had a nightmare," Hay Lin said hopefully.

All the girls were still laughing at the idea of lizard-Cedric stuffed into a tiny jail cell when a dejected Elyon entered the restaurant. Cornelia brightened and waved her arm. "Elyon, over here!"

She joined them but continued to look sad. "Hi, guys."

"What's the matter?" Cornelia asked.

Elyon sighed. "Cedric's gone. I stopped by the bookstore today and it was all boarded up! Nobody in the other stores knows where he went. He could have at least told me that he was going to close the shop."

"You know how it can be with businesses," Taranee chimed in, "here one day, gone tomorrow. He probably just didn't have time to leave you a message."

"I guess."

"Do you want to go to the mall?" Cornelia asked. "I've missed seeing you lately."

"I noticed," Elyon muttered. "You keep acting like you're too busy for me."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. But that's all going to change."

The blonde girls left the table. "Later, guys!" Cornelia called over her shoulder as they left the restaurant.

"I'm glad those two are back to normal," Hay Lin commented. "Maybe we can even tell Elyon the truth."

Will made a face. "Not right now. Even with Cedric out of the way, she'd never believe us."

For the past few minutes Irma had been sitting quietly. Now she buried her face in her arms and started to shake.

"What's the matter?" Taranee asked, alarmed.

Irma lifted her head. Tears streamed down her face. "I just keep wondering what those detectives must have thought. They go to arrest a guy for being a creep—and he turns into a giant lizard in front of them! I wish I had seen their faces!"

The other girls broke into helpless giggling. Soon there would be more serious fights against Phobos and his henchmen. But for now, all they could think of was the look on Cedric's face at being accused of such a crime unrelated to magical schemes.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to my LJ in January of 2010.
> 
> Perhaps it's just because of watching too much Law &amp; Order but whenever I watch the scenes between human!Cedric and Elyon, my mind immediately screams, "Pedophile!" It doesn't matter what's happening in the scene, or what they're talking about. Certain that I'm not the only person who's noticed this, I started wondering how characters who don't know about the whole "Evil henchman trying to brainwash the missing heir to the throne" scheme would react. Gods bless Youtube: the following are episode clips that give examples of what I'm talking about.
> 
> Episode clips:  
> \--[Episode 11, part 2](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0fUJyK7N_A&feature=channel) (near the end of the clip)  
> \--[Episode 12, part 3](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqJUBbLvGf4&feature=channel)  
> \--[Episode 13, part 3](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T-WTszc62U&feature=channel)


End file.
